Ramatu Al-Hassan is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, University of Ghana. She obtained BSc Agriculture (Honours) majoring in Agricultural Economics with a First Class, in 1976, from the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.  After two years as a teaching assistant in the Department of Agricultural Economic and Extension of the University of Science and Technology, she proceeded to Washington State University, Pullman Wa, USA, where she obtained the Masters in Agricultural Economics in 1980.  During the fall of that year, she was admitted into Iowa State for the Doctoral degree. While in Iowa State, she held a Graduate Research Assistant position; she was also awarded the prestigious Premium for Academic Excellence (PACE) Award by the University during the first year.

Her major on the doctoral programme was Production Economics and Policy. Her PhD Dissertation on the Effect of Developed Country Policies on Developing Countries was therefore a natural outcome of this interest in international agricultural policies.

After graduating in 1984 she took up a lectureship appointment in the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Ghana, where she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, including Principles of Economics, Statistics for Economists, Farm Management, Research Methods, Production Economics, and Agricultural Development Policy.

Her research interests are varied, including farming systems research and development, linkages between the farm and off-farm sectors, and implications for reducing poverty and improving food security; privatisation and the delivery of agricultural services to rural areas; gender issues in agriculture (access to resources and relative productivity of men and women).

She has led several externally funded research projects, including the Collaborative Study of Cassava in Africa (Ghana component), Analysis of Farmer Strategies for Food Security, Equity Implications of Reforms in the Financing of Agricultural Extension (Ghana case study), Dynamics of Smallholder Agriculture in Northern Ghana, Growth linkage potential of cassava sub-sector in Ghana, and Public Private Partnership in the Development of Biopesticides in Ghana and Benin.

She has provided technical services to various departments in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and other external organisations.

She is married with three children.

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